And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

In Chapter 77, Ishmael compares a portion of the sperm whale’s head — the “case,” which houses spermaceti — to an enormous wine barrel — i.e., tun — built into the floor of a castle in Heidelburgh, Germany. In my (probably inadequate) internet research, I learned that there have been four such tuns throughout the course of history, and that the present tun can hold 58,000 plus gallons of wine. I also learned that the tun has rarely been used to actually hold wine, much to the dismay of the French army, who captured the castle, took a hatchet the tun, and found nothing. Finally, I learned that a Calvinist pastor visiting Heidelburgh, which was the center of Calvinist theology, considered the cask a symbol of divine plenty, and therefore of divine approval.

Needless to say, my research did not uncover any obvious reference on Ishmael’s part, but it did get me thinking about aristocracy, symbols of divine blessing, and the French Revolution, which speaks to both of the former, as well as to the cosmetic usage of spermaceti.